Only a Hundred Years Away
by KitKatt0430
Summary: After saving the future, Klarth returns to his time period, marries Milard Rune, and awes the academic world by proving his theories on Summoning. But if that were all that happened Klarth wouldn't be half as amazing as he really is. Klarth/Milard
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I don't own _Tales of Phantasia_.

Summary – After saving the future, Klarth returns to his time period, marries Milard Rune, and awes the academic world by proving his theories on Summoning. But if that were _all_ that happened Klarth wouldn't be half as amazing as he really is.

A/N – This is basically a collection of little stories about Klarth, Milard, and Arche during Klarth's lifetime. As to why I call him Klarth and not Claus? His name has been Klarth a lot longer than it's been Claus. Quite frankly, calling him Claus makes me think 'Santa Claus' and that's just... not who Klarth is. I also have a tendency to want to spell 'clause' not 'Claus,' which is a little annoying. So there shall be no 'Claus' nonsense here. Sorry to any fans of the name 'Claus', but the name 'Klarth' is superior in my books.

_**Return**_

She was every bit as lovely as she'd been when he'd last seen her. Lovelier, even.

Klarth stared at Milard for a long moment, smiling at the sight of the blush on her cheeks. He couldn't believe there had ever been a time when he hadn't understood his true feelings for this beautiful woman.

Finally moving, Klarth stepped forward, into the house, and wrapped his arms around her.

"Milard..." he whispered, his face buried against her shoulder while her long brown hair tickled his face. Forgotten, his hat fell to the floor. "I've missed you so much." As her arms came up and she hugged him back, Klarth brought his face up so that he could look into her chocolate colored eyes. He kissed her lightly on the lips, encouraged when she returned the kiss eagerly. Slipping from her arms, Klarth dropped to one knee and produced the diamond Summoning ring that he'd made his pact with Origin on.

Since the pact hadn't been made yet, he didn't need the ring for Summoning. But the memories he associated with it made the ring perfect for use in something much more important. "Milard... will you marry me?"

"Yes..." she breathed the word out reverently as Klarth slid the ring onto her finger. "I'll marry you, you crazy man."

Laughing, Klarth leapt to his feet and pulled Milard back into his arms, lifting her off the ground as he whirled her around in excitement. "The only thing I regret," Klarth said quietly, as he put Milard back down, "is that it took me so long to realize how much I love you."

_**Missing**_

The wedding was small: close friends and family only. Milard was gorgeous in her wedding dress and Klarth looked particularly dashing in his formal suit.

Arche had been working hard on the wedding for her friend. A few days after she'd returned home to her father, Klarth and Milard had shown up to ask her to be the Best Friend (as opposed to Best 'Man') at the wedding. She'd gone with them back to Euclid after enthusiastically agreeing and had spent the past few weeks staying in Klarth's guest room. If anyone had found something strange about a seventeen-year-old girl standing in as Klarth's Best Friend, they didn't say a word.

She wouldn't want to plan them for a living, though. Somehow Arche doubted all brides were as serene and unruffled as Milard. Klarth had certainly landed an amazing woman.

But now the ceremony was over and the reception was nearly done too. As happy as Arche felt for Klarth, she was starting to feel a little sad, too.

Cless should have been there as Klarth's Best Man. Mint would have made a beautiful bridesmaid. Suzu would have been so adorable as a somewhat over-aged flower girl. Chester...

Arche sighed, watching the dancing couples. Chester should have been there as her date.

It was crazy, wasn't it? He wouldn't even be born for a hundred years, but she still had this crush on him. Arche didn't want to wait for Chester; she wanted him to be in front of her right then and there. But he wasn't. Odds were that both sets of his grandparents were only just now courting one another. Which brought up another crazy point. She might only be seventeen, but she was old enough to be his grandmother. After all, he was negatively aged at the moment, what with being unborn and all.

It felt a little like almost all her friends were dead. Arche felt like she ought to be mourning. Except they weren't dead and this was Klarth's wedding. She should be drinking and partying with the cute young men of Euclid and not mooning over Chester.

But those cute young men weren't Chester, which made them less cute in her eyes.

"I miss him," Arche finally admitted softly. "A hundred years before I can see him... that's a long time."

"It's a good thing you're a half-elf," Klarth said, startling Arche.

"Hey! No sneaking up on me, mister," Arche growled. Then she paused and gave him a weird look. "Why is it a good thing that I'm a half-elf?"

"By the time you get to see your boyfriend again, you'll still look cute," Klarth responded in amusement. "If you looked all old and wrinkly at a hundred plus years of age, Chester probably wouldn't want to kiss you again. But you'll probably look like you're in your twenties and he'll still think you're sexy."

Arche swatted Klarth over the head, but a grin lit up her face. "I'll always be sexy," Arche declared. "Even when I am finally old and wrinkly looking. I'll be the sexiest old lady in all of Aselia."

Klarth laughed and patted her shoulder. "That's better. Now, you've got to dance with me and then Milard, okay?"

The pink haired girl just grinned in response.

A/N – Well, there's the first one. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer – Alas, the Tales games do not belong to me.

Teaser – Covered in dust in the library in Alvanista Castle, Klarth, Milard, and Arche find the first clues to the history of the ancient organization known as the Renegades... and Arche discovers she's got more family now than just her father.

A/N – This story references a plot-line of mine in which Yuan does not disband the Renegades and Kratos does not remain on Dherris Kharlan forever the way _Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World_ claims. Instead, the Renegades persist until the year 2014, when the Kingdom of Alvanista takes offense to the organization and destroys their only remaining base. After that, the Renegades disband. If your curious, go check the Sygnus Figment Registry for more info, but you don't need to know any of the Symphonia stuff for this story to make sense on it's own. There's also reference to my theory that the angel who backs up Origin in battle is actually Kratos Aurion.

_**Dust Bunnies**_

The King of Alvanista, Joran Kafe, was a fairly mousy sort of man. He wasn't the sort of person who seemed to automatically command respect, like the King of Midgard, or even really all that capable looking, like Cless. The only reason that he was King of such a prosperous country, Klarth had to assume, was out of tradition. The Parliament did most of the major work when it came to ruling the people, anyway.

In fact, Klarth was fairly certain that the only real power the King had left was to decide when they went to war, pardon criminals, and order executions for crimes against the crown (after, of course, the suspected criminal got a fair trial). He might have had something to do with approving the laws devised by Parliament, but even Klarth had a little trouble understanding the legalese used for that part of the Altavistan Charter.

Not that it mattered since King Kafe always signed the bills sent to him regardless of what they said.

"Are you sure this is the library where you saw the reference?" Klarth asked, looking up at his dust covered wife, Milard.

"I think so," she said, sneezing violently. "You look like a dust bunny."

"We both do," Klarth responded with a grin.

"So... why was the King so eager to give you access to these archives?" Milard asked, putting another large tome on the table with a distinctive 'thunk.' "He seemed to be bending over backwards for us and not just because you're the war hero 'Summoner' Klarth F. Lester."

"Heh..." Klarth's grin turned into a slightly lopsided smirk. "The last time I saw the Alvanistan King, it was right after he released Arche, Cless, Mint, and myself from jail. We were arrested for saving the prince and, once the mistake was realized, we were set free. I think he feels a little guilty."

Milard laughed, her whole face lighting up, and Klarth couldn't resist the urge to stand up and kiss her. Dust flew everywhere as she wrapped her arms around his shoulder.

"Ahem!" The two broke apart at the sound of Arche clearing her throat. "Geez, if I wanted to hang around a lovey-dovey duo I would have stayed in the future to watch Mint and Cless make kissy-faces at each other."

"No, you'd have stayed there to make 'kissy-faces' at Chester," Klarth teased.

Arche pouted.

Rolling her eyes at Klarth and Arche's teasing, Milard tapped the tome she'd dropped on the table. "I'm pretty certain this is the book I saw, when I was a researcher here, that references the Renegades. If you're both so eager to look into the truth behind those family stories Chester told you two, then let's get a move on."

"Oh, fine," Arche and Klarth huffed together in mock-sadness.

Smiling, Milard settled into her chair and flipped open the book to the front page. "You're both living proof that growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional. Why else would a sixteen-year-old and a twenty-nine-year-old act the same?"

Klarth pouted as Arche laughed. Both sat down on either side of Milard.

"So... what does it say?" Arche asked as both researchers studied the introductory page intently. Unlike Milard and Klarth, she didn't understand the ancient writing within.

"It's old common," Milard responded slowly.

"It's a world Almanac for the Aselian Year 2013," Klarth's expression grew a little manic, the way it did when they'd discovered the underwater city with the time-traveling magitech. Arche shuddered just a little. Klarth was scary when he went all scholarly.

Milard took over the explanation again. "The first section contains the recent history, or what was recent when the Almanac was published, of all the major countries and cities of Aselia. It might also include organizations or businesses that are sufficiently powerful. The second section has census data, flags, and general facts. The third section is the last and it has all kinds of maps."

"Cool... so where would the Renegades be in this book?" Arche asked, leaning over and flipping a few pages.

Klarth swatted the half-elven girl's hand away. "You must be careful, this book is a delicate, important resource which should be treated with respect."

"So is my hand," Arche grumbled, rubbing her hand and playing up the part of the injured party... even though her hand didn't really hurt.

Milard reached over and, a tad more delicately, flipped forward until she found the article in the first section on the Renegades. "Okay, who want's to take notes?"

"I will," Arche volunteered, pulling a notebook and some pens out of her wing pack. "Just tell me what to write and down it goes. My handwriting is nicer than Klarth's anyway."

"A doctor has nicer handwriting than Klarth, dear," Milard responded absently as Klarth bristled.

"My handwriting is just fine," he objected.

"I became your assistant for more reasons than the fact that you're brilliant," Milard teased, looking up from the book. "I wanted everyone to realize that brilliance, so I figured the only way to do that is if I wrote for you."

Pouting, Klarth huffed and crossed his arms. "You know, I think I liked it better before the two of you were friends."

"You mean, when we didn't know each other at all?" Arche asked innocently.

"You both always pick on me," Klarth whined.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Milard responded, kissing Klarth on the cheek. "You give back as good as you get." As the Summoner puffed back up a little, Milard began to read from the book.

"The Renegades are a research and mercenary organization that hires itself out to all cities for the purpose of keeping down the monster population and maintaining the balance of mana in the world. They have been the guardians of the World Tree, Yggdrasill, since the year of its germination..." The generic information continued in this vein for some time. Milard paused every now and again to rest her voice and to let Arche catch up. Sometimes Klarth would take over the reading.

There was a lot of information just on the organization alone. The biography of the organization's leader, Yuan Ka-Fai, just seemed completely impossible. Yet...

"Could he really be over 6,000 years old?" Arche asked. "It just seems so... unreal. No one could live that long, right?"

"Well, Dhaos claimed to be over 5,000 years old when he finally talked to us," Klarth mused.

"But... but he was an Angel from Dherris Kharlan," Arche objected. "Only the Angels can live for thousands of years. Even Elves can only live for a single thousand."

"Maybe Yuan was an Angel," Milard theorized. "If he was over 6,000 in the year of 2013 and Dhaos was over 5,000 before he died, then they had around 3,000 years of overlap. At least, assuming that Lord Yuan died in the twenty-first century of our world."

"Lord Yuan..." Arche repeated thoughtfully. "Wasn't that what the redhead Angel, who fought by Origin's side, called Chester?"

"I think you're right," Klarth agreed. "He was certainly spooked by Chester's appearance."

"He was a little weirded out by Cless, too," Arche mused. "I wonder who he was?"

"Did he look like this?" Milard asked, smoothing out a picture of a burgundy haired man dressed in what they could only assume was a Renegade uniform. The purple armor was a bit strange, but he seemed to pull it off. "He's listed as Lord Kratos Aurion, same age as Lord Yuan, and the Second in Command of the Renegades. Next to this is the picture of Lord Yuan... it's a little faded, but..."

"He looks like Chester," Arche breathed, peering over Milard's shoulder. "Wow, no wonder Kratos called Chester 'Yuan.'"

"So Kratos _is_ the Angel you two fought?"

"Most definitely," Klarth agreed. "Let's finish transcribing the data. Then we'll come back to these pictures and I'll see if I can trace a copy of them."

"Now drawing is something you can do," Arche laughed.

_**Sisters**_

Milard ran the brush through Arche's hair one last time and then hugged the pink-haired girl. "Cheer up, Arche. Please?"

"Sorry," she sniffed. "I just... I didn't realize until I was already back here that I don't just like Chester... I love him. But he doesn't even exist yet."

"That's part of why Klarth suggested we should look into the Renegades. He thought that doing all of this for Chester would make being away from him a little easier for you," Milard smiled. "You do know that Klarth loves you as his sister, right?"

"H-he does? I always wanted a brother..." Arche mused thoughtfully, her sadness starting to leave her eyes.

"Yup. That makes you my sister-in-law," Milard declared.

Arche blushed and then grinned impishly, the last of her sadness dissipating. "Then let's go do sisterly things... like shopping and making Klarth carry all the bags."

"I can't wait to hear what excuses he'll try to use to get out of this," Milard laughed as they linked arms and left the room.

A/N - The truth is, we ladies know it isn't fair to make the guys carry everything. We just love doing it anyway.


End file.
